Thomas Paquette
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to present Haven, a solo exhibition featuring new paintings by artist Thomas Paquette. Through this body of work, Paquette explores the landscapes he regards as spaces of sanctuary—places not only of retreat but of renewal, where life, creativity, and personal reflection can flourish.
The exhibition title, Haven, emerged from Paquette’s thoughtful distinction between refuge and haven. While ‘refuge’ implies an escape that must be sought or constructed, a haven exists as an innate environment in which to thrive. His paintings explore these spaces of protection and endurance, where nature itself proliferates unimpeded. This awareness extends to an irony that runs through Haven: the very landscapes that feel most distant—primeval forests, remote mountains, vast skies—are inextricably linked to human existence. These ecosystems function as nature’s storehouses, sustaining biodiversity, regulating climates, and perhaps even holding undiscovered medicines.
Image Left: Mercurial Isle of Skye, 20" x 24", Oil On Belgian Linen
Paquette’s artistic approach mirrors the complexity of the habitat he paints. Many of the collection’s largest works depict old-growth forests—lands that have subsisted apart from human interference—havens that are eternally dynamic, continually shaped by the life they sustain. His paintings possess richly textured surfaces that reflect nature’s layers—geological formations, accumulated humus, the interplay of light and organic matter—replicating the slow accumulation of time and transformation that define these landscapes. He describes his process as capturing, “…the flow of energy from curiosity to curiosity,” each brushstroke carrying the imprint of his evolving exploration of the environment’s rhythms of growth, decay, and renewal. His paintings are not object portraits of trees or rivers but embodiments of the forces that shape them, inviting viewers to engage with the interconnectedness of the natural world.
Balancing spontaneity with careful consideration, Paquette often steps back from his canvases to cultivate objectivity and allow each work to organically reveal its character. The results range from large-scale, intensely textured canvases to minute, delicate gouache works, each capturing the unique presence of the places that inspire him. His paintings seek to express the timeless and sacred essence of ‘Havens’. His goal is not to merely document, but to translate the haven itself into paint, layering meaning and memory into each brushstroke. Paquette emphasizes that Haven is not just a reflection of his personal experiences but also an invitation for viewers to recall their own meaningful places of sanctuary. He sees his paintings as humble tokens, "tracings," as described by Robert Henri—markers along the roadside, reminders of where we find peace, wonder, and renewal.
Image Right: Mossy Roots III, 8" x 10", Oil On Wood Panel
GH Old Growth, Oil On Belgian Linen, 36" x 74"
Broken Ash on Property Line, 30" x 24", Oil On Belgian Linen
BFA Painting, Bemidji State University, 1985 summa cum laude
MFA Painting, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 1988 full graduate fellowship
Paquette has been a full-time painter since 1988. Months after his thesis exhibition, Paquette was awarded a three-year residency-fellowship in Miami Beach from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Other notable artist-residencies include American Academy in Rome, Aegean Arts and Cultural Exchange, Millay Colony, Blue Mountain Center, and Acadia, Yosemite, and Rocky Mountain national parks.
Almost 70 solo exhibitions of his works were mounted at museums and prominent galleries in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Washington, and elsewhere. His traveling solo exhibition "America's River Re-Explored" showed at Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Watermark Art Center, and Dubuque Museum of Art. "On Nature's Terms," a 70-painting solo exhibition, traveled to art museums in California, New York, and Indiana (California Nature Art Museum, Quick Center for the Arts, Evansville Museum of Art). Other solo museum exhibitions were at Erie Art Museum, Georgia Museum of Art, The Rockwell Museum, and Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
Several dozen of his paintings were selected for exhibitions at 22 U.S. embassies on five continents. Some of those embassies include Athens, Brussels, Moscow, Ottawa, Rome, Santiago, St. Petersburg, Taipei, and Vienna. His works are in numerous private, corporate, museum and state collections. He has lectured at museums and universities in the U.S., Greece, Wales, and England, and his bibliography is lengthy.
Hearts Content, Oil On Belgian Linen, 42" x 52"
